


keep me like a promise

by runimpossiblegirl



Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: 5+1 Things, Besoted Colin, Consensual Sex, Established Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Secret Relationship, cockblocking Bridgertons, jealous Colin, reluctant Penelope, they are babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:41:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runimpossiblegirl/pseuds/runimpossiblegirl
Summary: 5 + 1: times their secret relationship was almost discovered and the one time it did
Relationships: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sheffield, Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Daphne Bridgerton/Simon Basset, Eloise Bridgerton/Phillip Crane, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sophie Beckett/Benedict Bridgerton
Comments: 54
Kudos: 657





	keep me like a promise

**Author's Note:**

> Today I bring you: trash. Tomorrow, who knows?
> 
> In the fic I worked in the prompt: “Want to find out what we can get away with before someone comes looking for us?” from tumblr anon! Hope you like it :)
> 
> As always, any mistake is mine as this is unbeta-ed and english is not my first language.

Colin Bridgerton was happy. His life was good, he had a book deal to start sharing his globetrotting stories, he was back home with plans for staying, he had a new niece to pamper and he was seeing Penelope Featherington. Romantically. After twelve years of knowing her.

He had never imagined something like this.

Well, to be honest he had, but with his travel schedule and how protective everyone in his family was of her he never considered going for it for real. Eloise would have his balls on a plate if he ever hurt Pen. And she’d have the help of Kate, Sophie, Daphne, Frannie, Hyacinth and even his mother. With his luck Benedict would record the whole thing.

So no, he hadn’t imagined it until a year ago, when he finally started to feel the need of growing some roots. Most of his siblings had been settling for years, and even Eloise was seeing a guy named Phillip. A relationship serious enough to introduce the guy’s kids to the Bridgertons during a family barbecue.

It had shocked him to realize he was staying behind as nothing more than a fun uncle to his nieces and nephews, one that appeared once every three months with a bunch of presents and then disappeared again. He was sure that Anthony’s three years old didn’t really knew his face.

And that was not what he wanted. At thirty-two years old he’d started to crave stability, to miss having someone who'd spend more than a weekend on his bed—even if he always parted with his paramours in good terms—and that would be happy to see him arrive at home and share a routine with him. He wanted the intimacy he observed every time he was surrounded by his brothers and sisters and theirs significant others.

Talking about this with them was out of question, though, and he found himself talking with Penelope in his visits and writing and texting when he was away. Slowly, his imagination had started to come alive. It was so easy to talk with her, to share his doubts and discover dreams he didn’t even knew existed with her.

And she was beautiful. Stunning even. But she seemed to not realize it. Six months into _this_ unnamed thing he'd started to mention it to her and she blushed every time. It was enchanting really, and she liked him.

The next time he got to London she was there—as she'd always been there—with his family, and after a night of celebration he had took her home. She’d been so nervous alone with him in the car he’d thought she’d jump out of her skin with the slightest movement.

But in the end it had been Penelope who had asked for him to kiss her outside the doorway of her building. The one who had whispered “Please Colin,” as if he hadn’t just spent the biggest part of the ride thinking about it.

It had been sweet and hot and had shook him to his core. How inexperienced he’d felt kissing Penelope Featherington in the cold night! How he hadn’t wanted to stop! But he had, because he was a gentleman and if they hadn’t done this in the twelve years before they weren’t going to die just for waiting a bit more.

So he'd kissed her again and then said goodbye and rode away with a big smile on his face and maybe a hard on. But he had survived, and a week later he’d convinced Penelope to date him.

There was only one tiny detail. She'd wanted to keep it a secret. And he had agreed. Just as they settled in the relationship, afraid it would go badly and they’d hurt her relationship with the family. He wasn’t completely happy about it, but sneaking around could be fun.

And he wouldn’t have to go through all the jokes and rightful recriminations from the Bridgertons for waiting this long to snatch her.

More important, they would have the privacy needed for him to do to Penelope everything he had been imagining the last year.

_one_

The first thing Colin does when he enters the cafe is look around for a redhead girl in a blue coat. When he locates her sitting next to a window he strides to her side. Her head rises from the documents she’s been reading just before he reaches her side, and her face lights up.

“Colin!”

“Hello, beautiful,” he tells her and then leans down to kiss her.

He likes to be able to kiss her anytime he wants. Or anytime he wants and no member of his family is around. Which unfortunately tends to be a lot of the time.

But today in this tiny place there’s only Penelope and Colin, and he kisses her as if they had all the time in the world even though Penelope has to return to work in twenty minutes. It's not until someone is clearing her throat behind him that he moves away and says, “Sorry,” to a blushing waitress.

When he sits a looks at Pen she mouths, “Woah,” and he gives her a wink.

“I’ll have a hot chocolate and some cookies. Oh, and some cake? Pen, do you know what else is good here?”

“I like the blueberry muffins, but I think cake and cookies is enough for you,” she says shaking her head at him.

Colin ignores her and adds two muffins to his order.

“How can you always be hungry?”

“I’m a growing boy?” he tries with a boyish smirk, but Penelope just declares,

“You are a thirty-three years old grown ass man with a bottomless pit instead of a stomach. I’m surprised your mother was able to feed all eight of you.”

He shrugs. “Gregory and Hyacinth learned to eat really fast from an early age. But you still like me,” says Colin.

Penelope looks out of the window and softly responds, “That I do,” and a blush covers her face.

He’s starting to get addicted to these soft moments between them, when Penelope doesn’t seem to believe their relationship has changed.

He waits until she's looking at him again to take her right hand and say, “I like you, too.”

The waitress returns and starts settling food between them. “What were you reading so focused?”

“I’m proofreading an article for the next number of the magazine,” she tells him.

It had been Penelope who had suggested him to write a year ago when his doubts about the future had started troubling him. She’d revealed to him she had been working for years not only as an editor but also as a gossip column writer in the shadows.

She’d been scared when she told him the truth because his family had appeared mentioned at least every other month in said column, but he’d just been awed and proud at her cleverness.

Her experience and enthusiasm had encouraged him to look into publication and now he had a contract for two books with the possibility of an extension and her promise to help with the editing of the manuscripts. 

Even before the start of this relationship she had been giving him new dreams.

“Is Mrs. Danbury stressing you?” he asks about her boss.

“Nah,” she responds, picking a chocolate chip cookie. “She’s nice if you do your work, is the ones that are always late with their tasks that she dislikes. I’m just working ahead to have more free time. For us.” She blushes again.

“Please tell me we’ll finally get some time alone, I’m begging you here, Pen.”

“It’s not my fault your family keeps dropping on my doorstep!”

“Maybe if we told them…”

“Colin, please. We agreed,” she pleads him.

“Yes,” he closes his eyes. “I know.” 

“You know it’s temporal,” she tells him, caressing his hand in a way that makes his mind think about that same hand caressing other parts of his anatomy. God he wants to get her alone, wants to get closer to her, to feel her beneath his skin.

He’s leaning towards her to kiss her again—and her left hand is caressing the side of his face—when she exclaims, “Here’s the eyelash I saw!”

He blinks at her fully confused and then he hears, “Penelope! And Colin? What are you doing here?”

“I work a few blocks away, Kate, you know that,” says Penelope now with both hands free, and he loves his sister in-law—Colin likes to believe he’s the responsible for Anthony’s relationship even if Anthony thinks otherwise and has promised revenge—but he could strangle her right now.

He already misses Penelope’s hand in his.

“I know that Penny, I’m asking about this one,” Kate says pointing at him with suspicion.

And he would tell her right now, but Pen eyes are begging him not to do it, so he tells Kate a half truth, “I was on my editor's building and decided to ask Pen if we could have a drink somewhere close. You know I’m not a fan of eating alone if I can avoid it.”

“Oh,” she says, deflating a bit. “I came to get some muffins for the kids, Penny got them addicted to the blueberry ones.”

“Guilty as charged,” says Pen but she’s laughing. She loves all the kids in the family and they love her back.

Pen's phone vibrates and her face falls, “Oh, my break is over and they need me back.”

“I’ll walk with you,” says Kate before he can say anything. “I know you’ll want to finish your food,” she laughs. And then they are saying goodbye and he’s looking at them leave unable to do anything.

Just before crossing the door Pen turns around and mouths, “Call me later?” And he just nods and smiles at her.

When they are gone he allows himself a single huff before finishing his food. The muffins really are amazing.

_two_

A week later they have only managed to see each other for a few coffee dates and normal interactions with his siblings in between because the weeks before closing the articles for a new magazine number are always frenetic for her, but today he’s managed to escape from Simon and Benedict to surprise her in her apartment.

Maybe they can go out somewhere or stay in and cuddle and order some take out.

He knocks on her door and when she opens—with her hair in a top-not, a sweater that’s a few sizes bigger than her frame falling just a few inches over her knees and fuzzy sock—he can swear he's never seen something cutter.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Colin says before leaning down to kiss her, putting and arm around her waist to drag her closer.

Her hands rise to cling to his shoulders. “What are you doing here?” she asks him completely flushed.

“I decided to kidnap you,” he tells her touching his forehead to hers. “I’ve missed you.”

“You saw me yesterday,” she whispers.

“It’s not the same when we are surrounded by a group of kids, even if those kids are my cute nieces and nephews.”

“You make a good point,” she agrees, taking his hands and leading him to the couch. “I was watching some weird show with kids with superpowers,” says Pen. “Do you want something to drink or eat?”

“I’m okay, just come here,” answers Colin dragging her to the couch with next to him.

“Oof,” she says as she drops but then just molds her curves to his body, and he settles with an arm around her, finally content.

They spend thirty minutes not really paying attention to the TV, talking about their days while she rest with a hand against is abdomen.

This, he thinks, is what they are meant to be. This is how he wants to spend every afternoon. Well, not exactly like this but he could be content if this was the only thing in their future.

But then Pen starts to move her hand in circles while paying attention to whatever fight is happening in the screen and his mind goes straight to the gutter.

Colin controls himself as long as he can, but when the back of her fingers touch the seam of his pants all bets are off.

He moves his free hand to angle her face towards him and closes his mouth over hers.

He’s kissed her several times already, but this time feels different. He finally has her to all to himself, and she fits in his arms so perfectly. Twelve years it took him to realize this and now he has to pay for that time by winning her trust and making her understand this is not temporary for him.

Television all forgotten now she climbs into his lap, straddling him and sinking her hands in his hair while his grab to her hips.

The sweater she’s wearing now barely reaches the top of her thighs, and as he caress her from hips to bottom it only climbs higher, practically baring her to him.

There’s an inferno under his skin and her slight tugs on his hair only add fuel to the fire. He won’t be surprised of becoming ashes if this continues for too long. So he decides to distract himself by making her feel good, to stoke the fire within her core.

He separates from her mouth and she moans, but he decides to distract her by kissing her neck. She arches immediately and grinds down her hips.

“Colin,” she whispers.

“Slow down, sweetheart. Let me make you feel good first,” he says against her collarbone, and then sneaks his hand between her legs.

Pen can only whimper as he caress her slowly, following the instinctive movement of her hips as she chases her release.

He keeps a steady rhythm following the cues of her breathing, and when he has tortured Penelope enough with superficial touches to feel her nails dig into his shoulders, he finally sinks a finger in her and she tenses and drags his mouth back to her.

This new kiss is wild and wet and hot, all tongues and teeth and it doesn’t take him long to be able to thrust a second finger inside her.

“Colin, I need—“

“I know, sweet. Just let me…” he whispers while curving his fingers and putting pressure on her clit with his thumb.

Suddenly she’s coming apart in his arms and he feels absolutely invincible, as if he had been made just to please this tiny woman resting on his chest, trying to get her racing heartbeat back to normal.

And then her phone pings with a notification and she yells, “Eloise!” With a face full of panic.

“I know we Bridgertons look alike but I’ll be worried if you are confusing me with one of my sisters,” he jokes.

“No! I forgot about Eloise, I had to meet her,” she looks at the clock next to the tv, “fifteen minutes ago! Oh, God, that means she’ll” a knock sounds on her door, “be here any minute now.”

“Pen! Are you there?” asks Eloise.

“You have to hide,” says a frantic Penelope grabbing his hand and dragging him to her bedroom.

“This is ridiculous,” whispers Colin, but she’s already closing the door on his face.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he hears her say. “Sorry, Ellie, I feel asleep.”

“I figured when you didn’t answered the phone. We can stay here if you’re too tired,” says his sister.

“No!” exclaims Penelope, “I mean no, I’m all rested now, I just need to change.”

“Okay then, go do that and I’ll get the tickets to the movie.”

Seconds later she’s inside the bedroom, giving him a look charged with a thousand apologies.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, “I forgot I had plans with her.”

“Don’t worry,” Colin says approaching her, “I should have imagined something like this would happen.”

“Did you say something?” yells Eloise, probably from the couch.

“No! Just talking with myself.”

“Okay! Hurry up, we need to leave in ten,” ends the current bane of his existence.

Pen runs around collecting clothes and then locks herself in the bathroom to change, robbing him of the view. She leaves just two minutes later, brushes a quick kiss against his lips and runs out. A moment later he hears both girls leaving the apartment and he sighs.

He has too damn many siblings.

_three_

Penelope’s always been a good employee. She has been working in Danbury’s for six years now and has won the trust of her boss. She shares a floor with Mrs. Danbury herself, and the older woman knows her better than her own mother.

During a celebration night three years ago—after an excessive amount of alcohol—she had even told her about her unrequited love for Colin Bridgerton. So the woman only gave her a smile when she told her they’d finally started a relationship.

What she hadn’t been a fan of was Penelope’s request of keeping everything a secret. Mrs. Danbury thought she needed to jump into this without a life-saving jacket, but years of pining settled heavy on Penelope’s heart, filling her with fear.

At the end, Mrs. Danbury just wanted her happiness, so she’d smiled and given her a hug and her support.

And today when Colin appeared in her office she’d said, “So this is the famous Colin Bridgerton!” And then smiled and winked at her, telling her she’d made sure they had privacy.

Penelope had blushed, Colin had smiled.

And now Penelope’s ass sits on the edge of her big desk, Colin is standing between her legs and they are making out as a couple of teenagers.

“I can’t believe I’ve had to resort to assaulting you on your office,” jokes Colin.

“This is so inappropriate,” says Penelope biting his lower lip and making him groan.

“I know, I didn’t even knew I had this fantasy.”

“Hey!” She punches him softly.

“There’s a lot of fantasies I didn’t know I had until you, sweet,” he whispers against her neck. And once again she’s lost to everything he makes her feel every time he’s close.

She’s been in love with Colin Bridgerton for a little less than half of her life and still never imagined it would be like this. The electricity of his presence becoming a full storm.

He has half of her blouse open—truly decided to destroy any attempt of productivity today—when her desk comm rings.

“Miss Featherington, Mrs. Violet Bridgerton is here to see you.”

This time Colin is the one who freezes. She knows he’s not a fan of the secret thing, but she can also read in the tension of his body that he doesn’t wants his mother to find them in this position.

“Get under the desk,” she whispers.

“What?!”

“Under the desk, Colin!” and she pushes him down before answering, “Of course, Marguerite. Let her in.”

She manages to fix her blouse just before Violet opens the door.

“Hello, dear, I’m sorry to bother you,” says Violet Bridgerton, the mother of the man that is hiding under her desk. She counts the fact that there’s a solid barrier under her desk as a small blessing.

“You never bother me, Violet,” Penelope says walking to her and sharing a hug. “Please sit.”

It’s better if Violet is not walking around right now. Penelope walks around the desk and settles, too. 

“To what do I own this surprise?” asks Penelope, truly curious. Daphne, Sophie, Kate and Eloise are frequently coming to visit, but Violet is more of a sporadic visitor.

“I was in the area and decided to come to invite you to lunch.”

With all her attention on Violet’s face Penelope almost jumps when she feels Colin’s hand on her left knee. She kicks him as a reflex, but Colin manages to not make a sound.

“Only if you are not too busy, of course.”

“You know I’m never too busy for my favorite Bridgerton,” comments Penelope, and the hand on her knee starts to move up her thigh.

She’s going to kill him. She’s sure she’ll regret her actions later but she’ll do it anyway.

“Oh, don’t let Eloise or Colin hear you say that,” laughs Violet. And slowly, Colin moves her leg until it’s resting over his shoulder. She’s sure he must be in a ridiculous position as he’s much taller than her, but she cannot look.

“I’m pretty sure they already know,” her statement his received with a kiss on the inside of the leg that’s still on the floor helping her keep her balance.

“Are you okay, Penelope?” asks Violet, directing her a worried look. “You look flushed.”

“I think it’s hot in here. Don’t you think so?” She can feel Colin laughing against her skin and she wants to kick him again but then his hand rises again and she has to focus all her energy on staying immobile in front of his mother.

“If you say so,” Violet says doubtfully. “Maybe you need some air?”

“Yes!” she exclaims, Colin, the bastard, having just licked her. She needs to leave this office now. “I can finish this later,” adds Penelope, turning off her computer and moving her leg. Before Colin can do something else she stands. “Let’s go.”

“I’m planning a barbecue with the family next week, do you think you’ll be able to go?”

“Sure, just tell me the hour and what do I have to bring,” she tells Violet as they move towards the door.

She takes care of not locking the door on the way out, and shakes her head slightly when Mrs. Danbury gives her and inquisitive look with a raised eyebrow.

Colin better not be here when she returns because the letter openers on her desk are very _very_ sharp.

_four_

Colin loves his family. He loves to be surrounded by them and today is no exception. The kids run around the pool under the watchful eye of Hyacinth. All around the garden his siblings talk, his mother looks around happily, and he’s a bit jealous because he can’t be in the open with Penelope so he has to look at her from the distance, trying to hide he’s a love fool, pretending everything is like always.

“Ugh, you should just ask her out,” says Hyacinth, suddenly at his side. “You are being pathetic.”

“Shut up,” Colin tells her. “I’m working on it.”

“Uh. Well, work faster because I heard Daphne saying she had found someone ‘just perfect for Penelope’ only yesterday.”

Colin narrows his eyes. “Fuck. Don’t tell anyone about this conversation.”

“Just get Pen soon into the family so I can win the bet.”

“What bet?” asks Colin, but Hyacinth is already yelling at Caroline to move slower.

A bit worried after his conversation with his younger sister he catches Pen eyes and subtly gestures towards the house.

Making sure no one is looking—even though he’s sure Hyacinth is—he gets in the house through the kitchen doors and into the hallway.

Sliding into the washroom he waits until she’s walking pass him and whispering his name to grab her hand and drag her inside with him.

Penelope laughs and immediately wraps her arms around his neck.

“Hello again!”

“You are not angry with me anymore?” he ask pitifully.

“No. But don’t remind me. I still can’t believe you did that while your mother was in the room.”

“I’m sorry,” he says sincerely. He knows it was reckless and had cold sweats after they abandoned the office and he realized how close they’d come to be discovered by the woman that gave birth to him. “I won’t do it again,” Colin promises.

Pen shakes her head at him and then stands on her tiptoes to kiss him.

“I’ve missed you,” she mumbles against his mouth and his arms wrap more firmly around her waist.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he answers. Things are better now that he has her in his arms.

But she must hear something in his tone because she leans back and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” he reaffirms her, holding her close. “I promise.”

After a minute she looks up with her eyes full of mischief.

“Want to find out what we can get away with before someone comes looking for us?”

“Are we feeling naughty today?” he smirks.

Penelope shrugs. “I told you, I missed you.”

Colin leans down and kisses the blush out of her.

“We are surrounded by Bridgertons so we don’t have much time. But I can still make you feel good,” he whispers in her ear before kissing her neck.

“No, no,” she tells him, grabbing his hair. “This time it’s your turn.”

And before he can protest—weakly, _probably,_ he has never claimed to be a saint—her hand has sneaked down to caress his hard on through his jeans.

“Pen,” he whispers, lowering his hands to her ass. God but he loves her ass.

“Just let me, please?”

And he nods because he’s not an idiot, even if his brothers and some of her sisters would claim the opposite.

With agility she manages to open the buttons of his jeans and sneaks her hand inside.

She’s always been shy with him, but in this, she’s full of confidence. Probably because there’s no lie he can’t tell her, no way she doesn’t know the things she makes him feel when her hand is wrapped so intimately around him.

There’s not much room for her to maneuver when she’s so close to him, but there’s no way he’s letting her go.

Her hand is warm as it caress him from root to head, and like a fifteen year old he’s biting his tongue to avoid cuming in less than fifteen seconds.

“Is this okay?” she whispers, catching his eyes.

Colin needs to release his tongue to speak. She’s perfect, what she’s doing is perfect. But on her tone he can read insecurity and an eagerness to please him, so he says, “Yes. There’s nothing you could do that I wouldn’t like. Well, maybe stop.”

“Colin?!” They heard from far away.

“Fuck, that’s Benedict,” Colin says, putting his hand on her wrist to stop her, but her grip gets firmer. “Fuck,” he repeats.

“You need to be fast and quiet,” says the girl that’s been driving completely crazy with the help of his family. “Can you cum for me?”

“Colin! Mother needs you!” yells Benedict again.

“Penelope,” he whispers again, beyond forming complex sentences. And then he has a second of clarity and grabs a clean t-shit to avoid a wardrobe disaster when he comes apart.

Pen smiles brightly at him, full of pride, and he can’t avoid kissing her again and mumbling a thanks against her lips.

Much too soon she’s pushing him out of the door, claiming Benedict is going to have an aneurism if he doesn’t stop yelling.

He growls but goes. This secret thing is going to have to stop soon.

_five_

Colin is going to kill Daphne.

Simon may complain—okay he’ll murder him back—but his favorite sister has gone too far this time.

A to E—mother hates when they talk about themselves as letters—and their partners plus Penelope are in a new club having drinks and ready to dance, enjoying the freedom of a childless night.

It’s been two hours and Colin is perfectly content. Pen is right next to him wearing a shiny green dress that brings a lot of attention to her bosom and high heels that bring her up to his neck when they are standing up and dancing.

Eloise and Phillip are on the dancefloor, the guy having been dragged there by his sister, pretending to hate it but smiling at her back, and he’s sneakily drawing shapes on Pen’s back when his ex-favorite sister’s phone rings and she claims, “He’s here!” Then her thumbs are flying on the keyboard, probably giving their location to whoever just arrived.

“Who’s he?” Colin’s asks to Simon and immediately starts worrying about the lazy smile that settles on his brother in law’s face.

“That would be Peter. Daphne met him on a visit to the kids’ school and said he’d be just perfect for Penny. He’s a teacher, apparently.”

“Apparently?” asks Colin, grinding his teeth.

“I wasn’t paying that much attention at the moment,” ends Simon.

“Just enough to pester you,” whispers Benedict at his right and Colin elbows him hard. “Ouch. Not my fault you’re so hypnotized with Pen’s décolletage you haven’t made your move yet.”

On his left Penelope remains frozen until Daphne appears with a handsome—he supposes—guy probably in his thirties, tall and with dark hair and eyes.

“Everybody, this is Peter! He’s a new teacher on the school, just arrived from America so I invited to join us to today!”

Simon will probably remarry in a couple years, right? A hot widower with a bunch of cute kids should be a catch.

“Peter, this is my husband Simon, my brothers Anthony, Benedict and Colin, their wives Kate and Sophie, somewhere on the dancefloor are my sister Eloise and her boyfriend Phillip and this is our friend Penelope.”

The thing is, Colin knows Daphne is not doing this to be cruel, she’s actually being a great friend to Penelope, who deserves a good nice man to be with. But it’s a bit disappointing she doesn’t think he’ll do it. _Twelve years you idiot, you made her wait twelve years_. Ok maybe just ten, he finds a bit creepy to think about sixteen years old Pen with twenty-one years old Colin.

And they don’t know that he loves her. That he spends every minute awake wanting to be with her, and most of his minutes asleep, too. That he’s kissed her and done some other stuff with her and has no plans of letting anyone else do them.

But Daphne doesn’t know.

And, he realizes, he’d been so lost in his thoughts that Penelope is not even sitting by his side anymore but dancing with Peter next to Eloise and Philip.

“They would make a nice couple, don’t you thing?” asks a happy Daphne.

“Oh, absolutely,” Benedicts says, but he’s looking at Colin. “Don’t you think so Anthony?”

“Certainly, most attractive. Well done, Daphne,” praises Anthony with a smirk.

“I didn’t knew we were looking for a date for Penelope, I could have introduced her to a lawyer from the studio,” grumbles Kate, and Sophie just gives him a pitiful look.

Colin, done with this conversation, decides to tune them out and just keep drinking.

In the course of the night everyone returns to the table eventually, and Peter has the whole clan enchanted by the time 3 am arrives. Colin, having been drinking consistently through this nightmare goes to the bathroom and can’t find Pen or the guy when he returns.

“Pen is leaving and Peter decided to wait with her while the cab arrives,” Sophie, alone at their table, tells him.

“Oh,” Colin licks his lips. “I’m going to have a cigarette and be back.” And then he’s pushing through the crowd to reach the door, happy that Sophie didn't remember him that he's never been a smoker.

He doesn’t know what’s he going to do, but he can’t leave Penelope alone with Peter.

“So Daphne has no idea, uh?” he hears.

“No. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what did she told you but I’m really not looking for someone right now.”

“Is it the guy sitting next to you?” asks Peter.

“What do you mean?”

“I wonder if the reason you are not looking is because you already found someone in the guy that kept trying to kill me with his eyes,” laughs the guy, and Pen giggles.

“It’s a bit complicated,” she answers, and Colin absorbs every word. “But yeah, it is.”

“I hope it's good at least,” says the guy softly. “I think you deserve good.”

“It is,” Penelope says, “quite perfect actually.”

“And Daphne doesn’t know... why?”

She shrugs. “I’m not really sure.”

“Well you should. Tell them I mean. I think every one of them inside would be happy for you.”

“You are a nice guy,” tells him Penelope, and Colin can now agree.

“Thank you, it’s been nice to be out tonight with this group, even if I’ll leave a bit disappointed,” he adds with a wink.

Her cab arrives and just before she climbs in Penelope turns and tells to Peter, “You should join us again, we do have a lot of nice friends that you could like.”

Before she can see him spying on them he sneaks back inside and returns to the table. Sophie’s still sitting alone.

“Everything okay?” she asks him.

His phone vibrates with a message.

 **Pen** : I had to leave. My place tomorrow? I think the B’s are going to a game.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” answers Colin with a smile.

_plus one_

For some reason this night seems more quiet than usual, as if it nature itself were waiting for something to happen.

Colin and Penelope are once again cuddling in her couch, this time watching some Jane Austen adaptation.

Her words from the night before keep ringing in his ears and after half an hour of watching a couple with a terrible case of miscommunication he can’t keep his silence anymore.

Kissing the top of her head softly he whispers, “Do you really not trust me?”

Penelope turns her head abruptly and asks, “What? What are you talking about? Of course I trust you!”

“Then what are you afraid of? Is it… shame?”

Horror fill her expression. “Colin, how can you think I’m ashamed?! You are _you_! You are perfect. Have been like that since forever.” Her eyes fill with tears. “Please, don’t feel like that. Please.”

“What do I have to do then? For you to be happy about us being together.”

“Oh, Colin. You have it all wrong. It’s not that I’m not happy. I’m ecstatic actually. So overjoyed every time that we are together that… it makes me afraid. Because, what if you realize I’m the same Penelope of ten years ago? The one you claimed you would _never_ date to the whole world.” Colin flinches with that memory. “What if you get regrets and then I lose not only you, but everyone else?

“I know it sounds like madness, but every time I think about telling the rest the panic starts and I feel as if my heart is going to come out of my throat. Colin,” she whimpers, “you could destroy me. So please, please be sure.”

Turning to his side so he’s facing her, he cradles her face between his palms and rests his forehead on hers, never closing his eyes.

“I know,” he says, “that you think you are the same girl from ten years ago. And maybe you are that girl, just… more, more funny, more beautiful, and more perfect. But I know for a fact that I’m not that same boy that was desperate to escape, Penelope.

“I’m a man who realized that he was going through life aimless, and it was because for the first time I actually started looked around and realized that I wanted more. And I wanted it because you made me want it. Because the idea of you being here while I was half a world away started to drive me crazy. Because my heart started to skip beats every time the phone rang and it was you. Because… because I fell in love with you,” her mouth falls open with that, “and I keep falling every day.

“I promise you, love, I’m not going to regret it. It would be as impossible as regretting the oxygen. Please, believe me. Please,” he begs.

She takes a deep breath, and looking him straight in the eyes wets her lips and whispers, “Yes.”

Immediately he’s taking her lips, licking and biting until she opens for him and his tongue can brush against hers again and again. It’s an all-consuming kiss none of them wants to break, but he discovers—frustrated—that he needs to do it if their shirts need to go.

In a swift movement he has thrown his over the back of the couch, and then Penelope’s follows the same trajectory.

Her breast, god, he loves them. They are lush and—he discovers a second later—almost overflow his hands. Her bra opens in the front and he has just reached for it when there’s knocking on her door.

“Penelope, is us! We were around and it started raining, can you let us in?” comes the voice of Anthony Bridgerton, and Colin growls and drops on top of her, defeated.

“Hey,” says Penelope, running a hand through his hair. “I love you, too.” He raises his head immediately and starts beaming when she adds, “Now go kick them out.”

Now a man on a mission, Colin—still bare chested—opens the door to a surprised group of Bridgertons.

“Get the hell out right now,” he says before slamming the door on their shocked faces.

“WHAT IS COLIN DOING HERE, PENELOPE?” yells a distressed Eloise, and Colin can see Pen starting to get up.

“Don’t even think about it,” he tells her.

She bites her lip and then tells her friend. “I’ll talk to you later, Ellie!”

“HOW LATER?”

“A lot later!” adds Colin.

“I can’t believe you are going to make us stay wet out here,” he hears Kate say, followed by an, “Anthony Bridgerton do not say what I know you want to say!”

“I cannot believe Hyacinth won the bet,” exclaims Benedict.

And then Simon, “I can’t believe I’m still the only one who never bets against Hyacinth.”

“Are you all still here?!” asks a frustrated Colin.

“Yes!” answers the hallway chorus.

And finally he’s had enough. Walking back to the couch he picks Penelope in his arms and starts walking towards the bedroom. “Just let them talk,” says Colin before dropping her over the covers and climbing on top of her.

“Hi.” He kisses he tip of her nose.

“Hello,” she laughs.

“I love you,” he says.

“I love you,” she echoes. But he knows, has known it for years. And it’s him who has to show her tonight, so she never doubts again.

They continue losing their clothes until there’s only skin to caress and kiss. He spends more than a few minutes in her neck, slowly trailing wet kisses down until he reaches her breast.

She’s so sensitive there that he thinks with more time he could bring her to release just by playing with her nipples. He adds it to his fantasy to do list and decides to try that torture some other day. Or maybe just later tonight.

Penelope meanwhile hasn’t stayed calm, he’s sure he’ll be wearing some fine lines all across his back tomorrow in her desperation for dragging him closer.

He wants to kiss her all over. Wants to map her whole body, to find out the placement of every freckle that dust her pale skin, wants to go down on her until she’s tearing his hair out, but, it seems, all of that will have to wait because she has her legs wrapped around his waist and no intention of letting him go.

“Colin,” she growls. He didn’t expect to get harder with that sound, but right now there’s no barrier between them and he can feel how good she cradles him, how hot and wet she’s for him.

“Condom?” he manages to ask.

“Implant,” responds Penelope, looking at a tiny scar on her arm. “Clean.”

“I’m clean too, haven’t been able to think of anyone else for over a year,” he finishes.

“Please, love, just come inside,” her voice is raw and then she licks a stripe from his collarbone to his hear, where she whispers again, “please.”

And he knows he’ll never be able to deny anything to this woman that holds his heart.

“Open your eyes,” he says. And it’s only once their eyes meet that he starts entering her.

Penelope’s mouth falls open, breathing quickly, and he grits his teeth to remind himself to go slow. He manages, and they are still deeply lost in the other eyes when he’s finally all the way in.

“Are you okay?” he ask when he sees the tears in her eyes. “Am I hurting you?”

“No!” she says when he tries to retreat. “I just… love you,” she finishes, and rises her head in a request for a kiss.

As soon as her tongue touches his Colin loses any control he’d managed to maintain. Starting slow he moves just a few centimeters back before returning, but when she sucks on his tongue he leaves her almost completely before slamming back home.

Penelope throws her head back with a moan, and Colin starts a new rhythm, fast and hard. Her left hand goes to his hair, the right to his bottom, urging him deeper, and knowing his release is close he sneaks a hand down to where he’s entering her body and starts circling her clit with steady movements.

It doesn’t take long before she’s dragging his mouth back to her and he can feel her trembling against him and murmuring his name like a prayer. He follows her in the fall just a second later, fighting to keep his eyes open and not miss a single second of this.

After collapsing over her, he uses the last of his strength to roll on his back and drag her on top of him.

“I love you,” Colin says once again, and then he can feel Penelope Featherington press a small kiss over his heart in response.

“We should leave,” says Colin while sliding his index finger up and down the middle of her naked back a couple hours later. “If we are fast enough we can escape before the news spread tomorrow morning.”

“What?” asks Penelope, rising with her forearms over his chest to look at his face, all boyish and relaxed in the afterglow.

“Leave. To a place without any Bridgerton to interrupt us at least a hundred miles away. Maybe the Virgin Islands. I’m sure there’ll be no one of our family there, and you would love it.”

“Oh my sweet summer child, you really don’t know your brothers at all,” she mocks him.

As if marking her words his phone over the nightstand vibrates twice and a naked Penelope starts laughing. When he reaches the phone he has two messages.

 **Mom** : Anthony told me the news! I’m so happy. You have to bring Penny to dinner tomorrow at 7. No excuses, Colin. Love you.

 **A the Tyrant** : Don’t even think about going away. Payback's a bitch, little brother!

**Author's Note:**

> I know I haven't said this before here, but if you ever think that something in my fics needs to be tagged, please feel free to reach out and I will do it as soon as i can.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @runimpossiblegirl


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